Residents of an estate that has been plagued by a rat infestation for several weeks have begun to find dead vermin among their bins and in their gardens.

Residents of Passive Close in Rainham have been reporting problems with rats since mid-December, Photo: Lisa Walker.

Last week, the Recorder reported how tenants living in Passive Close, Rainham, had discovered they had a rat problem in mid December, claiming “thousands” of the pests had made their homes among the build up of rubbish on the estate over the Christmas period.

Circle Housing, whose responsibility it is to tackle the problem, promised residents an exterminator would visit last Wednesday, between the hours of 10am and 1pm.

But despite a number of people staying home from work that day, an exterminator never arrived. Allegedly, some residents were informed over the phone that this was because of a fault in the exterminator’s booking system.

Resident Lisa Walker, who claimed to have found one dead rat with half its head hanging off, told the Recorder: “I think it’s disgusting. We’re all going to be expected to keep paying our rent when we have to walk past dead rats on our drives every morning.

“I’ve already told them I’m not going to pay the full amount. It’s awful around here at the moment.”

Circle Housing insists it is doing everything it can to resolve the issue, and has provided residents with wheelie bins to prevent rats being able to feed on rubbish left out in the open.

Havering Council, who residents initially approached before learning the issue would fall under Circle Housing’s remit, has already sent an environmental health team to inspect the site, and is monitoring the issue.

A pest control specialist is also expected to visit Passive Close again imminently.

Following the Recorder’s story last week, local ward councillor Graham Williamson visited residents to learn more about the situation.

He told the Recorder: “It is unacceptable that nothing has been done so far.

“You would think that with all the bad publicity Circle Housing has had recently they would want to get this sorted as quickly as possible but that just doesn’t seem to have been the case.”

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